Video Interview - Kerry Thornley

[Gil Jesus]

Oswald's pal Kerry Thornley is interviewed and expresses his hatred for JFK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTbrLB1v5Q

[William Kelly]

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3

To: Director C.I.A. Washington D.C. 7 DEC 1977

Dear Mr. Turner - Your President has just said public ....Have no right to lie. ....specifically about ....holder of your office.

The explaation ....gave for eleminating those 820 jobs in clandestine service sounds pretty lame to me in light of what more than two years of intense tourment and persecution has made apparent.

You tell the people of this nation the truth about what happened and you do it now.

The CIA, if it is to exist in the future at all, is no longer to function as an instrument of multinatioal ruling class teror.

Am I understood or would you like me to go into more detail? You had also damned well better make sure Cater knows what's happening.

KERRY

[Thomas H. Purvis]

Since I have pretty well stuck my nose into most every other item:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/thornley.htm

Mr. JENNER. How long had you been in the Marines?

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time I had been in the Marines over half a year. I had been in the Reserve for many years. I had been on active duty for over half a year.

Mr. JENNER. You were then 21 years of age?

Mr. THORNLEY. [b]About; yes, sir.[/b]

Mr. JENNER. Tell me about what your occupation and activity had been up to the time you enlisted in the Marines.

Mr. THORNLEY. [b]Well, the year before I was a student at the University of Southern California, and before that I was a student at California High School in Whittier, Calif. [/b]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several items come to mind here. The first being "do the math"!

Although some persons are actually 19 years of age upon graduation from High School. Can't say that I know of too many 20-year olds. Even from down here in "Buzzard Roost, MS"!

Secondly, if one is in fact in the "Reserves", then there exists basically only two ways in which one ends up serving on full time active duty:

1. One volunteers for active duty and a 3-year service tour.

2. One is called to active duty for failure to comply with attending Reserve Meetings, and is given a 2-year service tour.

(note: there is the possibility that the USMC had some program in which a person could volunteer for only 2-years of active duty service, provided that they were already fully MOS qualified and had sufficient Reserve and ADT (Active Duty for Training) time already on their record. This is unknown since I personally declined a USMC recruitment and know little of their policies and procedures)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. No. I was--I completed my freshman year and then I went on active duty to serve my 2- year obligation in the Marine Reserve.

Which assignment (USMC Reserves) is quite identical to the two-year draftees, etc; in the US Army/Navy/Etc;, being that one is drafted into the RESERVES.

NOT a volunteer for active duty service into the USMC!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[b]Mr. JENNER. When did you first become acquainted with him?

Mr. THORNLEY. I was---it was around Easter of 1959, either shortly before or shortly after.[/b]

Mr. JENNER. Let's see. He was in the Marines at that time?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. I take it you also were?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. How long had you been in the Marines?

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time I had been in the Marines over half a year. I had been in the Reserve for many years. I had been on active duty for over half a year.

Mr. JENNER. Would you state the circumstances under which you became acquainted--let me put it this way first. What was the extent of your acquaintance with Lee Harvey Oswald, and here at the moment I am directing myself only to whether you were friends, were you merely on the base together? Indicate the level of friendship first or acquaintanceship.

Mr. THORNLEY. I would say we were close acquaintances in the sense that we weren't friends in that we didn't pull liberty together or seek each other out, yet when we were thrown together in an assignment or something, moving equipment, something of that nature, we spoke and when we were on the base and happened to be in the same area and were not required to be working, we would sometimes sit down and discuss things. That would be my statement there.

Mr. JENNER. So there was a degree of affinity in the sense that you were friendly in performing your military tasks together whenever you were thrown together in that respect. You felt friendly toward each other. You were never off base with him on liberty?

Mr. THORNLEY. No, sir.

Mr. JENNER. There were times when you were at liberty on the base, I assume and you and he fraternized?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes.

Mr. JENNER. Now, did you live in the same quarters?

Mr. THORNLEY. Well, not actually. We lived in quonset huts there, and he lived in a different hut than I did. We did live in the same general area, however.

Mr. JENNER. This acquaintance arose in the spring of 1959, is that correct?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Could this be that LHO actually had a "friend"?

Mr. JENNER. Do you associate the books you were reading at that time with anything Oswald may have been reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes. Oswald was not reading but did advise me to read George Orwell's "1984" which I read at that time.

A "friend" with common reading interests!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. I really can't, sir. I have been racking my brain on that one since November, and I can't fix the time. I do remember having taken some time off that year around Easter and going on a trip with some civilian friends of mine, who were out of school for Easter vacation, and I know I was in the outfit that Oswald was in at that time, and I know that either shortly before that trip or shortly afterwards, I can remember from the books I was reading at the time and things like that, that I met him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One can of course "take leave" from military service, provided that one of course has accrued leave time. Personally, I was never allowed to merely take some time off and go on some trip.

But then again, as would be quite obvious, I did not have that many "friends" to just take off and go on a trip with.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. Well, I was on the base in a different outfit before I came into MACS 9, the outfit I was in.

Mr. JENNER. Marine Air Control Squadron.

Mr. THORNLEY. I was in MACS 4 which was right next door to MACS 9 or was at that time, on the base.

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time his assignments and activities were primary janitorial. He was--he had lost his clearance previously, and if I remember, he was assigned to make the coffee, mow the lawn, swab down decks, and things of this nature.

Mr. JENNER. Were you aware of his presence when you were in the other MACS?

Mr. THORNLEY. No; not until I came into his outfit. And only sometime after I came into that outfit did I become aware of his presence.

Mr. THORNLEY. I would assume so, but I wouldn't know for sure. I know he was recently back from Japan as were most of the men in Marine Control Squadron 9 when I came into it.

---------------------------------------------------------------

For anyone who wants to know exactly what this means/is all about, just ask!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. JENNER. All right. I take it from the remark you have made in your reflecting on this matter that you were you devoted yourself to some fairly considerable extent to reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. And in what fields?

Mr. THORNLEY. Completely omniverous. Anything that I would happen to get a hold of I would read. At that time I was reading, well, at Oswald's advice I read "1984." At someone else's advice I was reading a book called "Human-ism," by Corliss Lamont, as I remember, and I was reading either "The Brothers Karamazov" or the "Idiot" by Dostoievsky, I forget which, at that time.

Mr. JENNER. What were those areas?

Mr. THORNLEY. Philosophy, politics, religion.

Mr. JENNER. Did you find that Oswald had reasonably similar interests?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I would say.

Mr. JENNER. In his reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I would say particularly in politics and philosophy.

Mr. JENNER. Was it those mutual interests that brought about your acquaintance with him or some other fashion?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir; it was those interests. My first memory of him is that one afternoon he was sitting on a bucket out in front of a hut, an inverted bucket, with some other Marines. They were discussing religion. I entered the discussion. It was known already in the outfit that I was an atheist.

Immediately somebody pointed out to me that Oswald was also an atheist.

Mr. THORNLEY. Right. He was smirking as he said this and he said it very gently. He didn't seem to be a glass-eyed fanatic by any means.

----------------------------------------------

[Robert Howard]

Since I have pretty well stuck my nose into most every other item:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/thornley.htm

Mr. JENNER. How long had you been in the Marines?

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time I had been in the Marines over half a year. I had been in the Reserve for many years. I had been on active duty for over half a year.

Mr. JENNER. You were then 21 years of age?

Mr. THORNLEY. [b]About; yes, sir.[/b]

Mr. JENNER. Tell me about what your occupation and activity had been up to the time you enlisted in the Marines.

Mr. THORNLEY. [b]Well, the year before I was a student at the University of Southern California, and before that I was a student at California High School in Whittier, Calif. [/b]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several items come to mind here. The first being "do the math"!

Although some persons are actually 19 years of age upon graduation from High School. Can't say that I know of too many 20-year olds. Even from down here in "Buzzard Roost, MS"!

Secondly, if one is in fact in the "Reserves", then there exists basically only two ways in which one ends up serving on full time active duty:

1. One volunteers for active duty and a 3-year service tour.

2. One is called to active duty for failure to comply with attending Reserve Meetings, and is given a 2-year service tour.

(note: there is the possibility that the USMC had some program in which a person could volunteer for only 2-years of active duty service, provided that they were already fully MOS qualified and had sufficient Reserve and ADT (Active Duty for Training) time already on their record. This is unknown since I personally declined a USMC recruitment and know little of their policies and procedures)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. No. I was--I completed my freshman year and then I went on active duty to serve my 2- year obligation in the Marine Reserve.

Which assignment (USMC Reserves) is quite identical to the two-year draftees, etc; in the US Army/Navy/Etc;, being that one is drafted into the RESERVES.

NOT a volunteer for active duty service into the USMC!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[b]Mr. JENNER. When did you first become acquainted with him?

Mr. THORNLEY. I was---it was around Easter of 1959, either shortly before or shortly after.[/b]

Mr. JENNER. Let's see. He was in the Marines at that time?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. I take it you also were?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. How long had you been in the Marines?

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time I had been in the Marines over half a year. I had been in the Reserve for many years. I had been on active duty for over half a year.

Mr. JENNER. Would you state the circumstances under which you became acquainted--let me put it this way first. What was the extent of your acquaintance with Lee Harvey Oswald, and here at the moment I am directing myself only to whether you were friends, were you merely on the base together? Indicate the level of friendship first or acquaintanceship.

Mr. THORNLEY. I would say we were close acquaintances in the sense that we weren't friends in that we didn't pull liberty together or seek each other out, yet when we were thrown together in an assignment or something, moving equipment, something of that nature, we spoke and when we were on the base and happened to be in the same area and were not required to be working, we would sometimes sit down and discuss things. That would be my statement there.

Mr. JENNER. So there was a degree of affinity in the sense that you were friendly in performing your military tasks together whenever you were thrown together in that respect. You felt friendly toward each other. You were never off base with him on liberty?

Mr. THORNLEY. No, sir.

Mr. JENNER. There were times when you were at liberty on the base, I assume and you and he fraternized?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes.

Mr. JENNER. Now, did you live in the same quarters?

Mr. THORNLEY. Well, not actually. We lived in quonset huts there, and he lived in a different hut than I did. We did live in the same general area, however.

Mr. JENNER. This acquaintance arose in the spring of 1959, is that correct?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Could this be that LHO actually had a "friend"?

Mr. JENNER. Do you associate the books you were reading at that time with anything Oswald may have been reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes. Oswald was not reading but did advise me to read George Orwell's "1984" which I read at that time.

A "friend" with common reading interests!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. I really can't, sir. I have been racking my brain on that one since November, and I can't fix the time. I do remember having taken some time off that year around Easter and going on a trip with some civilian friends of mine, who were out of school for Easter vacation, and I know I was in the outfit that Oswald was in at that time, and I know that either shortly before that trip or shortly afterwards, I can remember from the books I was reading at the time and things like that, that I met him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One can of course "take leave" from military service, provided that one of course has accrued leave time. Personally, I was never allowed to merely take some time off and go on some trip.

But then again, as would be quite obvious, I did not have that many "friends" to just take off and go on a trip with.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. Well, I was on the base in a different outfit before I came into MACS 9, the outfit I was in.

Mr. JENNER. Marine Air Control Squadron.

Mr. THORNLEY. I was in MACS 4 which was right next door to MACS 9 or was at that time, on the base.

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time his assignments and activities were primary janitorial. He was--he had lost his clearance previously, and if I remember, he was assigned to make the coffee, mow the lawn, swab down decks, and things of this nature.

Mr. JENNER. Were you aware of his presence when you were in the other MACS?

Mr. THORNLEY. No; not until I came into his outfit. And only sometime after I came into that outfit did I become aware of his presence.

Mr. THORNLEY. I would assume so, but I wouldn't know for sure. I know he was recently back from Japan as were most of the men in Marine Control Squadron 9 when I came into it.

---------------------------------------------------------------

For anyone who wants to know exactly what this means/is all about, just ask!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. JENNER. All right. I take it from the remark you have made in your reflecting on this matter that you were you devoted yourself to some fairly considerable extent to reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. And in what fields?

Mr. THORNLEY. Completely omniverous. Anything that I would happen to get a hold of I would read. At that time I was reading, well, at Oswald's advice I read "1984." At someone else's advice I was reading a book called "Human-ism," by Corliss Lamont, as I remember, and I was reading either "The Brothers Karamazov" or the "Idiot" by Dostoievsky, I forget which, at that time.

Mr. JENNER. What were those areas?

Mr. THORNLEY. Philosophy, politics, religion.

Mr. JENNER. Did you find that Oswald had reasonably similar interests?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I would say.

Mr. JENNER. In his reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I would say particularly in politics and philosophy.

Mr. JENNER. Was it those mutual interests that brought about your acquaintance with him or some other fashion?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir; it was those interests. My first memory of him is that one afternoon he was sitting on a bucket out in front of a hut, an inverted bucket, with some other Marines. They were discussing religion. I entered the discussion. It was known already in the outfit that I was an atheist.

Immediately somebody pointed out to me that Oswald was also an atheist.

Mr. THORNLEY. Right. He was smirking as he said this and he said it very gently. He didn't seem to be a glass-eyed fanatic by any means.

----------------------------------------------

Someone named Sondra London interviewed Thornley, and consequently published a book called The Dreadlock Affair, it is easily accessible on the internet, since it is now in public domain...Has anyone on the Forum read it?

If so I would ask if that person or persons might wish to share their recollections, as I have several thousand pages awaiting for me to read.Since the link for the book leads to the pdf file, I have posted a site that describes the book without being forced to download the pdf, in these days of viruses and so forth.

http://www.archive.org/details/EMPEROR_434

Edited April 29, 2009 by Robert Howard

[Robert Howard]

Since I have pretty well stuck my nose into most every other item:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/thornley.htm

Mr. JENNER. How long had you been in the Marines?

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time I had been in the Marines over half a year. I had been in the Reserve for many years. I had been on active duty for over half a year.

Mr. JENNER. You were then 21 years of age?

Mr. THORNLEY. [b]About; yes, sir.[/b]

Mr. JENNER. Tell me about what your occupation and activity had been up to the time you enlisted in the Marines.

Mr. THORNLEY. [b]Well, the year before I was a student at the University of Southern California, and before that I was a student at California High School in Whittier, Calif. [/b]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several items come to mind here. The first being "do the math"!

Although some persons are actually 19 years of age upon graduation from High School. Can't say that I know of too many 20-year olds. Even from down here in "Buzzard Roost, MS"!

Secondly, if one is in fact in the "Reserves", then there exists basically only two ways in which one ends up serving on full time active duty:

1. One volunteers for active duty and a 3-year service tour.

2. One is called to active duty for failure to comply with attending Reserve Meetings, and is given a 2-year service tour.

(note: there is the possibility that the USMC had some program in which a person could volunteer for only 2-years of active duty service, provided that they were already fully MOS qualified and had sufficient Reserve and ADT (Active Duty for Training) time already on their record. This is unknown since I personally declined a USMC recruitment and know little of their policies and procedures)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. No. I was--I completed my freshman year and then I went on active duty to serve my 2- year obligation in the Marine Reserve.

Which assignment (USMC Reserves) is quite identical to the two-year draftees, etc; in the US Army/Navy/Etc;, being that one is drafted into the RESERVES.

NOT a volunteer for active duty service into the USMC!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[b]Mr. JENNER. When did you first become acquainted with him?

Mr. THORNLEY. I was---it was around Easter of 1959, either shortly before or shortly after.[/b]

Mr. JENNER. Let's see. He was in the Marines at that time?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. I take it you also were?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. How long had you been in the Marines?

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time I had been in the Marines over half a year. I had been in the Reserve for many years. I had been on active duty for over half a year.

Mr. JENNER. Would you state the circumstances under which you became acquainted--let me put it this way first. What was the extent of your acquaintance with Lee Harvey Oswald, and here at the moment I am directing myself only to whether you were friends, were you merely on the base together? Indicate the level of friendship first or acquaintanceship.

Mr. THORNLEY. I would say we were close acquaintances in the sense that we weren't friends in that we didn't pull liberty together or seek each other out, yet when we were thrown together in an assignment or something, moving equipment, something of that nature, we spoke and when we were on the base and happened to be in the same area and were not required to be working, we would sometimes sit down and discuss things. That would be my statement there.

Mr. JENNER. So there was a degree of affinity in the sense that you were friendly in performing your military tasks together whenever you were thrown together in that respect. You felt friendly toward each other. You were never off base with him on liberty?

Mr. THORNLEY. No, sir.

Mr. JENNER. There were times when you were at liberty on the base, I assume and you and he fraternized?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes.

Mr. JENNER. Now, did you live in the same quarters?

Mr. THORNLEY. Well, not actually. We lived in quonset huts there, and he lived in a different hut than I did. We did live in the same general area, however.

Mr. JENNER. This acquaintance arose in the spring of 1959, is that correct?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Could this be that LHO actually had a "friend"?

Mr. JENNER. Do you associate the books you were reading at that time with anything Oswald may have been reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes. Oswald was not reading but did advise me to read George Orwell's "1984" which I read at that time.

A "friend" with common reading interests!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. I really can't, sir. I have been racking my brain on that one since November, and I can't fix the time. I do remember having taken some time off that year around Easter and going on a trip with some civilian friends of mine, who were out of school for Easter vacation, and I know I was in the outfit that Oswald was in at that time, and I know that either shortly before that trip or shortly afterwards, I can remember from the books I was reading at the time and things like that, that I met him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One can of course "take leave" from military service, provided that one of course has accrued leave time. Personally, I was never allowed to merely take some time off and go on some trip.

But then again, as would be quite obvious, I did not have that many "friends" to just take off and go on a trip with.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. THORNLEY. Well, I was on the base in a different outfit before I came into MACS 9, the outfit I was in.

Mr. JENNER. Marine Air Control Squadron.

Mr. THORNLEY. I was in MACS 4 which was right next door to MACS 9 or was at that time, on the base.

Mr. THORNLEY. At that time his assignments and activities were primary janitorial. He was--he had lost his clearance previously, and if I remember, he was assigned to make the coffee, mow the lawn, swab down decks, and things of this nature.

Mr. JENNER. Were you aware of his presence when you were in the other MACS?

Mr. THORNLEY. No; not until I came into his outfit. And only sometime after I came into that outfit did I become aware of his presence.

Mr. THORNLEY. I would assume so, but I wouldn't know for sure. I know he was recently back from Japan as were most of the men in Marine Control Squadron 9 when I came into it.

---------------------------------------------------------------

For anyone who wants to know exactly what this means/is all about, just ask!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. JENNER. All right. I take it from the remark you have made in your reflecting on this matter that you were you devoted yourself to some fairly considerable extent to reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER. And in what fields?

Mr. THORNLEY. Completely omniverous. Anything that I would happen to get a hold of I would read. At that time I was reading, well, at Oswald's advice I read "1984." At someone else's advice I was reading a book called "Human-ism," by Corliss Lamont, as I remember, and I was reading either "The Brothers Karamazov" or the "Idiot" by Dostoievsky, I forget which, at that time.

Mr. JENNER. What were those areas?

Mr. THORNLEY. Philosophy, politics, religion.

Mr. JENNER. Did you find that Oswald had reasonably similar interests?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I would say.

Mr. JENNER. In his reading?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I would say particularly in politics and philosophy.

Mr. JENNER. Was it those mutual interests that brought about your acquaintance with him or some other fashion?

Mr. THORNLEY. Yes, sir; it was those interests. My first memory of him is that one afternoon he was sitting on a bucket out in front of a hut, an inverted bucket, with some other Marines. They were discussing religion. I entered the discussion. It was known already in the outfit that I was an atheist.

Immediately somebody pointed out to me that Oswald was also an atheist.

Mr. THORNLEY. Right. He was smirking as he said this and he said it very gently. He didn't seem to be a glass-eyed fanatic by any means.

----------------------------------------------

Someone named Sondra London interviewed Thornley, and consequently published a book called The Dreadlock Affair, it is easily accessible on the internet, since it is now in public domain...Has anyone on the Forum read it?

If so I would ask if that person or persons might wish to share their recollections, as I have several thousand pages awaiting for me to read.Since the link for the book leads to the pdf file, I have posted a site that describes the book without being forced to download the pdf, in these days of viruses and so forth.

http://www.archive.org/details/EMPEROR_434

I took the plunge and read a bit of the pdf of Kerry Thornley's book, it was singularly unimpressive, and looked like it had traces of every really bad book on the JFK assassination I have ever read. No kidding. If he wasn't trying to be tongue in cheek, then I missed it. If you are mildly curious see the section titled The Conspirators, and you will probably see what I am talking about.

[William Kelly]

Gary Buell's Covert History Blog

http://coverthistory.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html

From Mass Control: Engineering Human Consciousness by Jim Keith:

In a letter to the author, Kerry Thornley, Oswald's best friend at the Atsugi Japan Naval Air Base, wrote: "In the late 1970s I was contacted by David Bucknell, who said he was in Marine Air Control Squadron Nine with Oswald and me. When he mentioned that his nickname was 'Bucky Beaver,' I recalled Bucknell-a large man with buck teeth who wore his utility cap all the way down on his head, giving it a dome shape instead of the common stretched, flattop shape.

"Bucknell asked me if I remembered an attempt to recruit us (Bucknell, Oswald, me) to military intelligence. I did not. Then he asked if I remembered approaching he and Oswald one day and being told by Oswald that 'This is a private conversation.' That I recalled clearly. Bucknell said it happened as we were on our way to the recruitment lecture."

Indeed, I remembered the incident occurred as all three of us were walking in the same direction toward 'Mainside' on the base and away from the radar outpost, the names Oswald, Bucknell and Thornley had been called over the P.A. system and that we were told to report to the squadron office. In the squadron office, we were ordered to report to base security over at 'Mainside' of L. T. A., the satellite of El Toro Marine Base where we were stationed.

"Bucknell said he and Oswald were running a loan sharking operation and their private conversation concerned whether or not they were now being called in for questioning about that. Oswald doubted it, because I had been called up at the same time and knew nothing about the operation. "

Bucknell says when we arrived at base security we were seated in a small auditorium or lecture room with a number of men from other outfits. Up in front, according to Bucknell, was a Marine captain and a Hispanic man in civilian clothes with a flat-top haircut. Bucknell was surprised to see that the Captain was acting as an 'errand boy' for this civilian, whom the Captain finally introduced as 'Mister B.'

"'Mister B.' said, 'We have reason to believe that Castro's new revolutionary government has been infiltrated by Soviet agents.' (This would have been in late May or early June of 1959, just after the New Year's Day Revolution, before Castro 'went Communist.' I recalled someone making that statement in a lecture I attended, but did not remember the context).

"We had all been called together, said Mr. B., because we were reputed to be admirers of Fidel Castro. As I understand it, and dimly recall it, the pitch was that Castro needed our help in getting rid of these agents. We were being asked to volunteer for a counter-espionage program!

"I'm sure I would have volunteered. To the best of my recollection, I was ostensibly turned down because I was already slated for a tour of duty in the Far East, to begin in June, and the training program was in the U.S.-But not before I signed some papers authorizing using me for intelligence purposes. "Bucknell made detailed notes of this extraordinary event the day after it occurred, and when we met in San Francisco in the late 1970s he read me those notes.

"Volunteers were interviewed on a one-on-one basis after the recruitment lecture. Bucknell says he had a maternal grandfather named E.H. Hunt, who he listed on the recruitment form as a reference. Mister B. looked startled and said, 'Who is this E. H. Hunt?' Bucknell explained. Mister B. said, 'Oh!,' and laughed. (E. Howard Hunt was second in command under Nixon on the Bay of Pigs operation.) "

"Bucknell was never contacted again in relation to this program. Neither was I.

"Bucknell says that the Marine Air Control Squadron's covert security was handled by Army Intelligence, and we now both suspect that Oswald may already have been an Army Intelligence agent pretending to be a Marxist at the time of Mr. B.'s recruitment attempt, which may have enhanced his qualifications for Mr. B.'s program.